Previous Post 13 September 2010

Is your house killing you???- originally posted 13 September 2010

Is your house killing you?...because it turns out that for the last 8 months our new house has been killing me…literally. As some of you would know, I have been battling unwanted weight loss since we moved into this house. Now I know for some this would be a good thing, but for me it’s been a progressively bad thing.

It started off as losing half a kilo every fortnight. Then I would manage to gain a little, then lose it and some more. Now it has accelerated to half a kilo a week, and the maintenance weight I strive for just gets lower and lower. It doesn’t matter that I currently consume 3000 calories per day, lots of proteins, fats, do zero exercise….the weight just falls off week after week.

I have also suffered ongoing bone numbing fatigue, headaches, numbness in my arms and hands (which has been getting more aggressive), severe postural hypertension including momentary blindness (hence my recent broken nose) and a general fogginess in my thoughts. There are days I feel like I’m swimming under water – slow and sluggish, and other days where I quite literally cant get off the floor.

My local GP’s were at a loss, so I was sent off to a series of specialists, who have also been at a loss. They all agreed that there was something seriously wrong with me, but could only rule out cancer, and problems with my endocrine system to name a few. Finally, someone recommended contacting a mold toxicologist to assess our house.

Little B has also been sick, quite literally, every 8-10 days since March. He, who has never had a cough, has had many coughs plus colds, plus major congestion. He is also always tired (unrelated to the amount of sleep he has had).

When we moved in we discovered the previous owners had hidden a substantial mold problem in two of the bedrooms. We removed all the said walls and ceilings and replaced them with new plasterboard. Had subfloor ventilation put in to dry out under the house as it seemed to be a bit damp. Problem solved or so we thought.  It turns out there is a major mold problem under our house.

The mold is in the bearers, in the earth, and we have water pooling in odd places under the house (not from leaking pipes). Anything we have under the house grew mold but that didn’t seem odd. But now we have mold growing in the house in weird places – smack bang in the middle of a glass window that get’s full sun. Our toilet brush rotted, our washing machine grew horrid black mold on the door seal that wouldn’t come off and microscopic mold was all over my clothes and I was breathing it in (the worst bearer was under my wardrobe).

Our lovely wooden floors are bringing these mold spores in via osmosis. No room is immune.

After speaking to a mold toxicologist, and a building biologist, Little B and I have moved out of the House of B for the time being. I’m currently undergoing round after round of tests to see how much damage this mold has done to my body. You see it turns out that mold can be so toxic that it can induce autoimmune or neurological diseases, damage your lungs, and even in some cases cause permanent damage to your body.

We still don’t know what the future holds for us or this little house.

Mold - 1, The B Family – 0

Previous Post 12 October 2010

Moldy House Update - originally posted 12 October 2010

Well bad news was always in the offing. I’ve been told that I will never be able to live in our little house again. The type of mold there is so endemic and deep rooted, that while it can be mainly removed, it will probably return due to the nature of the block (it’s an aquifer). I also had such a massive exposure to toxic black mold, and such a bad reaction, that I will continue to react in the same way.

Unfortunately, I have had to throw all my clothes away as well as they cannot be cleaned. The type of mold, Stachybotrys, binds to the fibres and is unable to be washed out.

So we look forward. We will fix the house but look for a new House of B in the next 12 months. The Mold may reign supreme, but then again so do we. I now need to focus on getting healthy. They say my physical rehabilitation will take about 12 months and my health will take just as long to recover if not more, so it’s all good timing really.

When you think things are bad,

when you feel sour and blue,

when you start to get mad…

you should do what I do!

Just tell yourself, Duckie,

you’re really quite lucky!

some people are much more…

oh, every so much more…

oh, muchly much-much more

unlucky than you!

- Dr Suess, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are

There will be more challenges as we get through this. We’ve been told that when we move we have to treat our belongings as if the house burned down. All the furniture will need to be disposed of, plus our clothes and books. If we take it with us, we run the risk of contaminating a new house.

We’ve had time over the last few weeks to reflect on this change, and we are completely at peace with the situation. Can we financially afford to do this? The answer is a big fat resounding NO! Ultimately though the health and survival of our family is more important than any old house. And as the Dr Suess story says, there are worse things that could have happened to us and we are lucky we caught it in time :-)

Well..

I had my sad sack moment (which doesnt suit me) then launched into an offensive against this nasty mold saga. My neurologist recommended I start an ant-inflammatory diet to bring down the inflammation in my body. Interestingly, it is kind of similar to some of the mold recovery diets out there. So I've started it with gusto.

Quite simply it is a vegan diet with a little bit of oily fish. I also have to watch my saturated fat intake (I have to keep it under 10g a day). So I've been eating lots of beans, lentils, veggies (of course), seeds, almonds, some red salmon and ocean trout, as well as taking lots of flax oil, magnesium and vitamin d. I'm also supplementing some B vitamins as recommended by him to help with nerve damage and also since a vegan diet is often deficient in Vitamin B12.

I feel better on this diet. It's not really helping with my numb arms, or leg weakness yet but he says it could take 12 months to feel any difference. I've also stepped up my detoxing baths and am bathing in betonite clay once a week and epsom salts once a week. I've also started using coconut oil as a body moisturiser (with great success actually - it's made some fungal skin spots flare and disappear).

I also think the diet is encouraging a detox because initially I had days of extreme fatigue, headaches and feeling really foggy and unwell. After about 1 week, I felt better. I'm wondering if this is similar to the fungus die-off you see on anti-candida diets?? Hmm only time will tell. And for the first time in like forever I've gained some weight and kept it on for about 2-3 weeks. Fingers crossed...